Sirhornsalot
**The Official Horn Sports Landscaper and Landscap
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2013
- Messages
- 33,557
Getting rid of those "volunteer trees"
We get a lot of calls and requests for removal of unwanted trees, or as we call them – “volunteer trees.” Homeowners call them “junk trees” or “weed trees” or even “trash trees” because they can grow near trash cans.
These are trees that are not planted, but show up and grow in places that we don’t want them. And thats mostly because birds are responsible for their germination. These trees appear along fence lines, behind and/or beside AC units, pool pumps as well as inside flower and shrub beds. They will appear poking though a shrub line or even behind a shrub line along the foundation. In each case, it will be directly below where birds will perch. Seeds fall out of they beaks, dropping to the ground, and later becoming a new tree.
In DFW, the most common culprits we find growing where they’re not supposed to are Ash, Cedar Elms, Hackberry, Mulberry, and Sumac trees. The Cedar Elms blow in via the wind, as well. But most saplings are bird-caused. So there’s really no escaping whats happening, but we can do something once they appear – pull them.
By pulling them, they will not reappear a few weeks later. Cutting them will only see them return weeks later. You can poison them but thats really pointless because you still have to physically remove them.
They cause all kinds of problems for us, namely growing along fence lines making the fence unstable. HVAC folks tell us that AC units need at least three feet clearance on all sides so the units can “breath.” When clusters of tree saplings begin growing around the AC units, the breathing of the units becomes restrictive.
Foundation repair will be in your future if one of these is allowed to grow along your foundation line. Trees love sending roots under foundations because moisture is concealed under the concrete. But to have one right next to the foundation means the largest roots will try to upheave your foundation at some point. I have seen this problem develop many times and each time, the homeowner really didn’t know where the tree came from or how it got there.
Common weed sprays will not kill these saplings. You can sometimes kill them with a kill-all type product but it may take a couple of treatments to get a kill. The fastest and more sure way is to remove them by hand by pulling them straight out of the ground, roots and all.
The Tree Warranty
I am often asked about “warranties” for trees that we provide to customers. Unfortunately, we do not provide one for trees or plants. Most landscape companies do not. The reason we don’t is because the wholesale nurseries we buy from do not.
Literally, we think of this as a service to our customers in that we go to the nursery, pick out the best specimens we can find and make the purchase. We load them properly (tarped with mesh tarp) and transport them to the customer’s location. Of course, we unload them and then plant them.
To that point, we’ve no knowledge of the histories of the trees, we’re seeing them for the first time. Wholesale nurseries buy their stock from various locations across the country. So there is some inherent risk involved with any tree purchase or planting. Most nurseries will tell you that for whatever reason(s), one out of every 10 trees planted will die of shock or suffer shock so severely it needs to be replaced.
However, a good proper planting followed by tender loving care in their first six months will almost always result in success. It is wise that when you purchase a tree from your landscaper that you also purchase some sort of follow up care as well. That way, if something were to start going wrong, the landscaper will see it early and be able to resolve it.
Its been brought to my attention that some of the box stores offer warranties on their trees. From what I’ve experienced, the 30 gallon trees I see sold are actually 15 gallon trees planted in 30 gallon containers, giving them the profit needed to support a warranty and then some since the price jump is almost double from one to the other. They win and you get to think you win, too.
Fungicide about to become scarce
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, it was late summer. Two weeks later and for weeks after, you could not find a bottle of fungicide in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex. All supplies of all types of fungicides were sent to New Orleans in response to the clean up efforts after Katrina. That includes the organic fungicide, horticultural cornmeal. It was also unavailable in Austin and Texarkana. I know. I remembering checking. lol
As a result, DFW landscapers were very limited in how we could respond to outbreaks of lawn fungus that Fall. By the time new supplies finally arrived, we had already experienced our first frost (which kills fungus). So it was pointless by then.
I am thinking we’re about to see a repeat of that shortage of fungicide. It might be wise to pick up a bottle or bag while you can.
One way to combat it before fungus strikes is to prevent the conditions that fungus thrives in. Cool and longer nights, shorter days with an ever lowering sun in the sky are the set up conditions for fungus. If you add water to that list, then you’ll have the creation and spread of lawn fungus. If you were watering 3-4 days a week during the summer, you can reduce that to 2 days a week now.
To make things worse, the nitrogen in our fertilizers will further enhance the growing conditions for fungus. So we help prevent it by preventing the wet cool nights and just have cool nights instead. Have your sprinkler system turn on in the early morning, say 5 am or 6 am so that by the time night time rolls around, most of the moisture has been removed from the turf.
This is especially true this year because here we are in the first week of September with lows in the 60s and highs in the 80s. So this year in particular is setting up well for fungus. Don’t let it hit your lawn.
The cooler the nights become, the slower the growth in the lawn. So the bad thing with fungus is that the damaged spot(s) will likely not recover until next spring when we have fresh, new growth again.
Various Tips for this month
1. If you have trees that need to be trimmed, get it done either in September or by October. Either way, do it while the leaves are still on the tree. This makes it easier to identify dead limbs and where necessary clustering is occurring.
2. Pre emergent – If you intend to sew winter rye grass in your lawn next month, do NOT apply pre emergent to your lawn this month. The pre emergent will cause your winter rye to not germinate.
3. Fall Fertilization – If you have not applied yours yet, do it now and cut your ratio in half (amount applied). Everything indicates we’re in for a cooler than average Fall season. A standard ratio of fertilizer now will lead to fungus, later.
4. Fall/Winter Flowers – By Oct. 1, you will begin seeing new flats of flowers on the nursery racks. These are Pansies, which will grow and thrive throughout the Fall and Winter season and will last until April. They will be sold through the whole month of October. I caution against buying during the first week, as those tend to be the smaller sized and sometimes don’t even have blooms yet.
5. In case you’ve forgotten from my last month’s column, set your sprinkler start times to morning starts. We make this change typically on Labor Day each year. Morning starts will help prevent lawn fungus during the Fall.
We get a lot of calls and requests for removal of unwanted trees, or as we call them – “volunteer trees.” Homeowners call them “junk trees” or “weed trees” or even “trash trees” because they can grow near trash cans.
These are trees that are not planted, but show up and grow in places that we don’t want them. And thats mostly because birds are responsible for their germination. These trees appear along fence lines, behind and/or beside AC units, pool pumps as well as inside flower and shrub beds. They will appear poking though a shrub line or even behind a shrub line along the foundation. In each case, it will be directly below where birds will perch. Seeds fall out of they beaks, dropping to the ground, and later becoming a new tree.
In DFW, the most common culprits we find growing where they’re not supposed to are Ash, Cedar Elms, Hackberry, Mulberry, and Sumac trees. The Cedar Elms blow in via the wind, as well. But most saplings are bird-caused. So there’s really no escaping whats happening, but we can do something once they appear – pull them.
By pulling them, they will not reappear a few weeks later. Cutting them will only see them return weeks later. You can poison them but thats really pointless because you still have to physically remove them.
They cause all kinds of problems for us, namely growing along fence lines making the fence unstable. HVAC folks tell us that AC units need at least three feet clearance on all sides so the units can “breath.” When clusters of tree saplings begin growing around the AC units, the breathing of the units becomes restrictive.
Foundation repair will be in your future if one of these is allowed to grow along your foundation line. Trees love sending roots under foundations because moisture is concealed under the concrete. But to have one right next to the foundation means the largest roots will try to upheave your foundation at some point. I have seen this problem develop many times and each time, the homeowner really didn’t know where the tree came from or how it got there.
Common weed sprays will not kill these saplings. You can sometimes kill them with a kill-all type product but it may take a couple of treatments to get a kill. The fastest and more sure way is to remove them by hand by pulling them straight out of the ground, roots and all.
The Tree Warranty
I am often asked about “warranties” for trees that we provide to customers. Unfortunately, we do not provide one for trees or plants. Most landscape companies do not. The reason we don’t is because the wholesale nurseries we buy from do not.
Literally, we think of this as a service to our customers in that we go to the nursery, pick out the best specimens we can find and make the purchase. We load them properly (tarped with mesh tarp) and transport them to the customer’s location. Of course, we unload them and then plant them.
To that point, we’ve no knowledge of the histories of the trees, we’re seeing them for the first time. Wholesale nurseries buy their stock from various locations across the country. So there is some inherent risk involved with any tree purchase or planting. Most nurseries will tell you that for whatever reason(s), one out of every 10 trees planted will die of shock or suffer shock so severely it needs to be replaced.
However, a good proper planting followed by tender loving care in their first six months will almost always result in success. It is wise that when you purchase a tree from your landscaper that you also purchase some sort of follow up care as well. That way, if something were to start going wrong, the landscaper will see it early and be able to resolve it.
Its been brought to my attention that some of the box stores offer warranties on their trees. From what I’ve experienced, the 30 gallon trees I see sold are actually 15 gallon trees planted in 30 gallon containers, giving them the profit needed to support a warranty and then some since the price jump is almost double from one to the other. They win and you get to think you win, too.
Fungicide about to become scarce
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, it was late summer. Two weeks later and for weeks after, you could not find a bottle of fungicide in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex. All supplies of all types of fungicides were sent to New Orleans in response to the clean up efforts after Katrina. That includes the organic fungicide, horticultural cornmeal. It was also unavailable in Austin and Texarkana. I know. I remembering checking. lol
As a result, DFW landscapers were very limited in how we could respond to outbreaks of lawn fungus that Fall. By the time new supplies finally arrived, we had already experienced our first frost (which kills fungus). So it was pointless by then.
I am thinking we’re about to see a repeat of that shortage of fungicide. It might be wise to pick up a bottle or bag while you can.
One way to combat it before fungus strikes is to prevent the conditions that fungus thrives in. Cool and longer nights, shorter days with an ever lowering sun in the sky are the set up conditions for fungus. If you add water to that list, then you’ll have the creation and spread of lawn fungus. If you were watering 3-4 days a week during the summer, you can reduce that to 2 days a week now.
To make things worse, the nitrogen in our fertilizers will further enhance the growing conditions for fungus. So we help prevent it by preventing the wet cool nights and just have cool nights instead. Have your sprinkler system turn on in the early morning, say 5 am or 6 am so that by the time night time rolls around, most of the moisture has been removed from the turf.
This is especially true this year because here we are in the first week of September with lows in the 60s and highs in the 80s. So this year in particular is setting up well for fungus. Don’t let it hit your lawn.
The cooler the nights become, the slower the growth in the lawn. So the bad thing with fungus is that the damaged spot(s) will likely not recover until next spring when we have fresh, new growth again.
Various Tips for this month
1. If you have trees that need to be trimmed, get it done either in September or by October. Either way, do it while the leaves are still on the tree. This makes it easier to identify dead limbs and where necessary clustering is occurring.
2. Pre emergent – If you intend to sew winter rye grass in your lawn next month, do NOT apply pre emergent to your lawn this month. The pre emergent will cause your winter rye to not germinate.
3. Fall Fertilization – If you have not applied yours yet, do it now and cut your ratio in half (amount applied). Everything indicates we’re in for a cooler than average Fall season. A standard ratio of fertilizer now will lead to fungus, later.
4. Fall/Winter Flowers – By Oct. 1, you will begin seeing new flats of flowers on the nursery racks. These are Pansies, which will grow and thrive throughout the Fall and Winter season and will last until April. They will be sold through the whole month of October. I caution against buying during the first week, as those tend to be the smaller sized and sometimes don’t even have blooms yet.
5. In case you’ve forgotten from my last month’s column, set your sprinkler start times to morning starts. We make this change typically on Labor Day each year. Morning starts will help prevent lawn fungus during the Fall.
